Despite current day societal accommodations for deaf people, including current day supportive laws and removal of stigma associated with being deaf, deaf people are still often caused to feel isolated from the vast majority of others who are able to hear. Much of this is caused by the fact that the vast majority of hearing persons never learn sign language. As a result, in-person conversations between hearing and deaf persons often entail the awkward and time-consuming use of handwritten text on exchanged pieces of paper and/or pointing at objects.
Such barriers to communication between hearing and deaf persons also extend into electronic communications, and can become more severe. Despite the growing widespread use of two-way video communications, conversations between hearing and deaf persons through electronic communication devices often entail time-consuming exchanges of typed text.